Warchild

deutsch english français bosanski hrvatski srpski magyar

"Pic illustrates with incisive precision the dilemma facing those whose lives were ruptured by the Bosnian conflict -- and, by extension, any war. Helmer Christian Wagner's assured direction of a fully rounded script might have been enough to convincingly sell the drama on its own. But it is the iron-willed yet haunted perf of Mitevska, previously seen in Milo Manchevski's "Before the Rain" that lifts the story from affecting to engrossing. As good as rest of the cast is, this is Mitevska's show.
Led by the muted yet crystalline images of DOP Thomas Mauch, "Warchild" has the tech precision of a fine watch." VARIETY Eddie Cockrell 2006

"Because of its theme and a searing performance by Labina Mitevska as Senada, Warchild deserves to be widely seen." FILM IRELAND Antony Kirby

BEST FILM AWARD - GOLDEN OLIVE TREE "For the intensity and delicacy of the glance with which subjects of tragic relevance to the present days are treated. A film of the present which does not fear to face the memory of recent atrocities without abandoning hope." The Jury of 5. EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL LECCE.

additional reviews and pressmaterial

New: CROSSING THE BORDER Festival ROXIE Theater San Franciso

Welcome to CROSSING THE BORDER, a series of international films presented by the Goethe-Institut of San Francisco and the Roxie Theater from August 15 to 21-2008. The Opening Night film, WARCHILD will have director Christian Wagner in person.

Friday, August 15, 7:00pm

WARCHILD opens at the Roxie for a 1 week run beginning Aug 22.

Synopsis Thirty-year-old Senada tries to find peace after the war. In the whirlwind of the conflict, she has been separated from her then two-year-old daughter, who has since been listed as missing. But Senada refuses to give up her search. She locates her daughter again – the adopted daughter of German parents.

Story outline WARCHILD, the second part of Christian Wagner's planned Balkan Blues Trilogy, describes the dilemma of the people whose lives were ruptured by the Bosnian conflict. 30-year-old Senada (Labina Mitevska) is a real estate broker and accomplished volleyball player in a small city near Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her marriage is falling apart and, worse, her daughter, Aida, was taken from her by an aidorganization a decade earlier and relocated to a place unknown to Senada. She grows determined to find her daughter and finds out she's been given to German foster parents. After a harrowing illegal border crossing to Ulm, a town in Southern Germany, Senada finds her: now 12 and renamed Kristina, being raised by a well-to-do German couple. But,as she observes her daughter from a cafe near their home, Senada discovers she can't trust anyone. Christian Wagner's assured direction underlined by well-known and awarded cameraman Thomas Mauch's crystalline images and formost Labina Mitevska's performance as Senada makes this film a strong plight for the people whose lives were ruptured by any war.

Winner screenplay prize at Montreal World Film Festival and more awards at some of around 40 film festivals world wide.